Chapter 262: Coming Out of Seclusion
At this point, the massive gray cloud in the sky had already turned into a five-colored cloud, and a huge hole appeared at its center, through which a ray of dazzling golden light was shining down directly upon the floating mountain below.
The entire mountain was basked in a bright golden glow, giving it the appearance of an incandescent mountain of gold.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li's eyes were tightly shut, and he was seated with his legs crossed with golden light radiating from his body, giving him the appearance of a golden deity.
Meanwhile, 11 specks of golden light were flashing incessantly on his chest and abdomen, and not far away from, a fist-sized golden vortex was slowly taking shape.
Right at this moment, a loud rumbling sound akin to a thunderclap rang out in the sky, and the entire five-colored cloud began to churn in a frenzy.
The placid-looking pillar of golden light also shuddered before beginning to rapidly revolve, quickly transforming into a giant golden tornado that stood like a pillar between heaven and earth.
A resounding boom rang out as the azure light barrier around the mountain was shattered by the giant pillar of golden light, which then shone straight down into the cave abode on the mountain.
The entire floating mountain shuddered as it descended slightly, and a burst of violent shockwaves swept through the air in all directions.
The round-faced young man had only just begun to approach the mountain from below when he was struck by the shockwaves, and the protective spiritual light around his body was instantly dispelled while he was sent flying back through the air like a rucksack.
Only after crashing into a nearby mountain did he come to a rest, and an unnatural flush appeared on his face as he threw up a mouthful of blood.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips as he carefully stood in mid-air, glancing down at the canyon below before turning his gaze back to the mountain up above while holding tightly onto the silver talisman in his hand.
Upon entering the mountain, the pillar of golden light disintegrated into countless specks of golden light that descended like rain.
Inside the secret chamber of the cave abode, Han Li's eyes abruptly sprang open, and the golden vortex on his body began to rapidly revolve while releasing a burst of tremendous suction force.
The sound of howling wind rang out as the countless specks of golden light swept up the surrounding world's origin qi before surging toward the vortex on Han Li's body like a turbulent river, and his twelfth immortal acupoint was beginning to take shape!
Looking up the river of golden light descending down onto the mountain, the round-faced young man was astonished beyond words. He had witnessed breakthroughs from other immortals in the past, but never had he witnessed one quite so spectacular.
Right as he was looking up in shock and awe, a deafening boom suddenly rang out, followed by a chorus of alarmed and agonized screams coming from the canyon down below.
It seemed that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, but as the round-faced young man looked down, he found his vision being obstructed by all of the mountains in the way, so he couldn't see anything, and he was unsure of whether the other disciples were still able to hold on.
A conflicted look appeared on his face, and his grip tightened even further around the talisman. The palm of his hand was sweating profusely, and in the end, he gritted his teeth and injected a wisp of magic power into it.
A streak of azure light instantly flew out of the talisman before hurtling toward Han Li's cave abode with a sharp screeching sound.
After that, the round-faced young man turned and rushed straight toward the canyon down below.
At this point, the situation had already erupted into complete pandemonium.
The azure light barrier conjured up by the Blaze Dragon Dao had already been broken, and there only some parts of it were still intact, but it didn't appear as if they were going to be able to last much longer.
Mist was already surging up through the broken parts of the light barrier, en route to swallowing up even more floating mountains.
The round-faced young man arrived just in time to see Hu Zhen leading the Blaze Dragon Dao disciples upward in a retreat with a grim look on his face.
As soon as he caught sight of the round-faced young man, he immediately approached him before asking, "Luo Tang, have you informed Elder Li of the situation?"
"I have, but he's still currently in the middle of his breakthrough, and I don't know when he'll come out of seclusion," Luo Tang replied.
"This is something that's never happened before, and Elder Li is the only True Immortal Stage elder currently in this secret area. If he doesn't come out of seclusion soon..." Hu Zhen's voice trailed off here, but what he was implying was very obvious.
All of a sudden, a thunderous roar rang out from down below, and countless white ghosts came surging out of the canyon, springing toward the floating mountains up above regardless of whether they were encompassed within the mist or not.
All of the Blaze Dragon Dao disciples unleashed their treasures to intercept the white ghosts, and a fierce battle instantly ensued with countless white ghosts being slain on the spot.
Even the white ghosts that weren't successfully intercepted weren't able to survive for long out of the mist. All of them began clutching at their own throats as if they could breathe while their skin turned black, and they began plummeting down toward the canyon in agony.
Even so, these white ghosts were still springing up without any regard for their own lives, and it was as if they had truly gone insane.
"What is going on?" Luo Tang murmured to himself with a stunned expression.
"I feel like... they're running for their lives from something..." Hu Zhen said as a hint of fear flashed through his eyes.
Right at this moment, another feral roar rang out, and this time, it sounded as if it were coming from somewhere very close.
A giant black shadow suddenly sprang out of the dense mist, opening its cavernous mouth to swallow up around a dozen white ghosts at once before rapidly falling back.
Immediately thereafter, two more black shadows darted out of another part of the mist to devour several dozen more white ghosts.
Whatever the creature was, it was concealed within the mist and moving so quickly that Luo Tang was unable to catch a clear glimpse of it at all.
"What is that thing?" he exclaimed in a horrified voice, to which Hu Zhen shook his head silently in response.
"What do we do? If we keep retreating, the entire annual harvest of spirit medicines will be gone, and the sect will be sure to punish us severely," Luo Tang said with a grim expression.
Hu Zhen's brows were tightly furrowed as he took a glance upward, and he couldn't help but feel a little discontent toward Han Li.
"We can't keep retreating. Ignore those white ghosts and focus on dealing with that creature in the mist. All disciples, heed my call! Assemble right away and prepare to face the enemy!" Hu Zhen yelled.
At this point, many of the Blaze Dragon Dao disciples were already beginning to panic, but they still heeded Hu Zhen's call and began to converge toward him.
"Assemble the All-encompassing Sword Array!" Hu Zhen yelled.
Everyone immediately sprang into action without any hesitation, rising up into the air atop their flying swords, while those who didn't have any flying swords raised their hands to inject their magic power into the sword array.
The All-encompassing Sword Array was a type of basic sword array that didn't require any complex setup. Instead, it was capable of unleashing enormous power as long as there was a sufficient number of flying swords assembled.
Thousands of flying swords rose up into the air between the floating mountains, and an enormous sword array quickly took shape.
Hu Zhen's eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, clearly not expecting the sword array to be so formidable, and he was beginning to believe that perhaps they really would be able to slay the beast within the mist.
"Attack!" Hu Zhen yelled, and everyone instantly heeded his call as the thousands of flying swords gathered together before plunging down toward the dense mist below like a waterfall of swords.
Countless white ghosts that were rushing out of the mist were instantly slain by the swords, and all of a sudden, an earth-shattering roar rang out, following which the mist within the canyon began to rise up 10 times quicker than before, instantly swallowing up all of the oncoming flying swords.
A string of loud clangs rang out incessantly from within the mist as hundreds of flying swords were struck by a burst of tremendous force, sending them spiraling out of control and flying back out of the mist.
Some were even shattered outright, causing their wielders to throw up mouthfuls of blood from the resulting backlash.
Nine mountainous black serpentine heads emerged from the mist. Each head had a pair of golden eyes that were watching all of the disciples with cold disdain.
The heads were swaying slightly from side to side while flicking out their forked tongues repeatedly to produce a hissing sound.
All it took was a single glance from the serpentine beast for Hu Zhen to feel as if his entire body had been plunged into a glacial pit, and he couldn't muster up any courage to resist such a formidable creature.
The giant serpent was clearly below them, but he felt as if it were somehow looking down on them, and his heart was entirely filled with despair.
He wasn't the only one who felt this way. All of the other disciples were also in such a state of despair and horror that they had even forgotten to run away.
Moments later, the nine giant serpentine heads shrank back in unison, preparing to spring up at the Blaze Dragon Dao disciples above.
"Get back, foul beast!"
Right at this moment, an extremely authoritative voice suddenly rang out up above.
Before everyone even had a chance to look up, they saw a streak of azure light flash before their eyes, following which a humanoid figure appeared among them.
It was a tall and imposing azure-robed figure with a layer of azure light around his body, giving him the appearance of a true deity.
"Elder Li!" Hu Zhen exclaimed, and his cries were quickly echoed by everyone else.
They were like drowning swimmers who had suddenly been saved right on the verge of death, and the elation and relief that washed over their bodies was so immense that they felt as if they could cry.
Meanwhile, the nine serpentine heads had already opened their cavernous mouths while springing up from down below.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a gentle breeze that carried all of the surrounding disciples to a safe distance away.
After that, he thrust a palm downward, releasing a burst of azure light, within which nine azure flying swords were circling around incessantly. The nine azure swords were releasing countless streaks of azure sword light that formed an azure light barrier, which encompassed virtually the entire canyon.
These azure flying swords were none other than the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, and in their current form, they were able to act independently as 72 swords, or combined to form nine swords, or just a single sword.
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